Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing: Educational Institutions – November 12, 2009
Posted on November 12th, 2009
Date & Time: Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 138, State Capitol
Committee Information: Members on Committee
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12305/I7891.pdf
1:35 pm – Meeting called to order by Senator Mary Anne Salmon, Co-Chair. Minutes of last meeting were adopted without questions or comments.
1:37 pm – The first item for review was England School District. One of the findings were that district funds were utilized to reimburse the Superintendent for several expenditures which appear to conflict with Attorney General’s Opinion No. 91-411. These improper expenditures including the following: 1) Fruit baskets ($442) for three board members and the Superintendent while attending a National School Board Association Southern Region conference in San Antonio, Texas in July 2007. 2) Airlilne tickets ($745) for non-board members accompanying Board members to aforementioned conference. 3) Gratuities for $89. Additionally, the Superintendent was reimbursed $598 for undocumented expenditures related to the same conference. ($302 for meal charges, and $296 for miscellaneous expenditures). This was reviewed without question or comment.
1:40 pm – Woodland School District of Cleveland County had the following finding. Review of expenditures revealed the District paid $14,000 to a contractor for used stadium bleachers which the District never received. Internal controls and management oversight failed to prevent payment for goods not recieved.
1:49 pm – The Bay School District of Craighead County expended $11,495 to a business managed by a Board member without obtaining approval from the Arkansas Department of Education as required by Ark. Code Ann. 6-24-105. A similar finding was reported in the previous audit. The school failed to provide a representative failed to testify before the committee. The audit was held until they provide a person to testify before the committee.
1:52 pm – the Dewitt School District discovered that the Gillett Elemenatry School principal, Vicki Reed, cased a $500 check payble to “DeWitte School District Elementary School – V. Reed”. There are circumstances that indicate this may have been a simple mistake, but this must procedurally be turned over to the prosecuting attorney.
1:55 pm – The Truman School District of Poinsett County executed a lease agreement totallying $8400 for office space with a Board member’s father. The original lease agreement, with an annual renewal clause, began in August 2003 prior to the election of the lessor’s son to the Board of Directors. Subsequently, the Board did not pass the required disclosure resolution nor obtain approval from the Arkansas Department of Education. A similar finding was reported in a previous audit.
1:59 pm – The Alpena School District of Boone County did not distribute the required amount of increase to certified personnel, resulting in an underpayment of $17,855.
2:01 pm – The Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative has numerous findings, several of which are repeat findings. They had no one present to testify before the committee, the review was held until they provide a representative for testimony.
2:03 pm – The Batesville School District has an interesting violation. One that is rather rare, they made an error that resulting in an underclaim of $21,734.
2:05 pm – The Berryville School District of Carroll County did not pay an employee in accordance with the written contract due to a clerical error, resulting in an underpayment of $1350. They also did not distribute the required amount of increase to certified personnel, resulting in an underpayment of $54,869. These findings are failure to pay at levels required by the State.
2:08 pm – The Centerpoint School District of Pike County did not distribute the required amount of increase to certified personnel, resulting in an underpayment of $11,591. This finding is similar to the previous one.
2:10 pm – The Crosset School District of Ashley County improperly used more than one salary schedule for the purpose of calculating certified personnel salaries. Their internal control system did not prevent or detect material errors in the financial accounting records. Such records are utilized in the preparation of the District’s financial statements. It was noted that an endowed scholarship was not included in the fiduciary fund types resulting in an $82,208 and $465,758.
2:16 pm – The Committee meeting adjourned. There were findings against Elkins, Huntsville, Ozark Mountain, Pea Ridge, Scranton, South Missisippi, Stephens, and Yellville. I couldn’t keep up with the pace of the commitee. However, if you would like to review these independently, you can find these reports here: http://www.legaudit.state.ar.us/Meetings/Nov2009/EducationSub.htm
Filed under Uncategorized |
Comments are closed.
